Heath Ledger Dies

[dakuwan]

Not many details yet, but he was found dead by his housekeeper today.

I've been looking forward to his Joker in Batman. He's great in the preview, with the little bit it shows that is.

[tommy]

cnn.com, at the top.

more to follow, presumably.

How tragic. :(

[nccanes]

Wow - talk about young!! Leaves behind a young child too.

Very sad.

[caneshockeychick]

WHAT?!!!

:(

[dakuwan]

CNN is saying now he was found surrounded by sleeping pills so it's looking like suicide/accidental overdose.

[SoCalcaniac]

I just saw this. OMG. I'm a huge Heath Ledger fan; two young actors dead in a week, first Brad Renfro and now Ledger. Very tragic, he had a little baby.

I read this interesting article in the NY Times yesterday about the AP and other media outlets writing up obituaries in advance of these young Hollywood wild children's demise. I thought how morbid. But then..... stuff happens and you think, well now.....

Very sad.

[SoCalcaniac]

oh god we have two threads on this. Mods might want to merge....


Yes, very sad- stunning actually.

[caneshockeychick]

yep, just saw that. This is so sad.

He was one of my "young" faves.

RIP Heath :cry:

[puck_it]

threads merged, sorry for any discontinuities in the discussion.

very tragic.

[nccanes]

When I went to look up the story, I stumbled on an updated Renfro article that said he had a young child in Japan.

Life is short. Seems like as you get older, you're reminded of that near daily.

[Lady J]

Wow. This is really stunning. I mean, with Brad Renfro, you almost expected him to have a tragic demise, given his terrible problems with drugs. But, Heath Ledger didn't seem like the sort of guy who might be in danger.

[magnolia_mer]

My husband and I just watched a rerun of "The Brothers Grimm" about a week ago and really enjoyed it. I thought he and Matt Damon played well off each other. I've liked HL in everything he's been in, especially "10 Things I Hate About You."

I stumbled across the story on a gossip site and thought "what a tacky hoax." Then I Googled the story and found out it was true. Very, very said.

Edit: Now they're saying the apartment belongs to Mary-Kate Olsen. Weird.

[Alicia]

:sick::(

[Turbulence]

Edit: Now they're saying the apartment belongs to Mary-Kate Olsen. Weird.

:crazy:

How sad. The lives of celebrities are crazy.

[Tricia]

I was shocked when I heard this one. Very sad....

[SouthernHockeyChick]

Just saw that.....can't believe it. We were just saying here too that you just knew Brad Renfro wouldn't make it to a very long life. I didn't expect this one.

More wasted talent. :(

[bonniebroad]

I thought he was just amazing in "Brokeback Mountain." How said that the wild life got the better of him! (I read that he was treated for heroin addiction last year.)

[Mona2006]

Very sad... we look at this people as larger than life and think they have it made and I guess they don't. :(

A talented, handsome young man gone too soon. :cry:

I thought this was an awesome pic to share in tribute to him :(

http://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/news/2006/08/04/1000009/f8caa2b5-f378-4dfb-9379-5c3be0f7ab2b_Obit_Ledger.sff-512x354.jpg

[corylav]

I read this interesting article in the NY Times yesterday about the AP and other media outlets writing up obituaries in advance of these young Hollywood wild children's demise. I thought how morbid. But then..... stuff happens and you think, well now.....

I toured the New York Time back in college and they showed us the drawer with all the predesigned obits ... the guy giving the tour showed us Reagan's (before his death). It was multiple pages ... but when you think about it, you need to have something like that when someone that huge dies, and it needs to be in the paper ASAP.

[caneshockeychick]

I just can't smile today :(

[caneshockeychick]

http://www.wral.com/entertainment/story/2400719/

Accidental Prescription Drug Overdose

This almost happened to my sister back in Nov 2006. Her doctors at the time (and she had several for her RSDS) had all prescribed her different anti-depressants, sleeping agents and pain meds. My mother was the one giving her the pills daily so that she wouldn't overdose. So it was on that day, my niece and mother went to walk the dogs (usually a 20-30 minute outing). Upon arriving back home, my niece went to the bedroom to see my sis only to find her lying on the floor. She screamed and my mother went in to find my sister barely breathing. Luckily the next door neighbor was a former nurse and came over and intubated her to try and get her breathing again while my mother called the paramedics. My sister was in the hospital for several days.

If my sister had been alone that day, she would have died.

And then in Dec 2006, when we almost lost her again, her RSDS doctors were calling us and asking us if she was taking "recreational drugs." They knew what was coming. Funny thing is, my sister hardly drinks (I had a hard time getting her to drink on her 21st :lol: ) and drugs, HA, she wouldn't even smoke pot. I told them to F*$k off basically.

RIP Heath :(

[cmw00]

Do doctors really prescribe all that stuff for somebody to take at the same time?

[caneshockeychick]

My sister's dr.'s did. And we were scared she would OD that's why my mom took over dispensing the meds.

[cmw00]

That really sounds excessive for somebody having trouble being "the joker". He had to have had some other problems going on!

[caneshockeychick]

Well you figure he was getting over basically being dumped by someone whom all reports have said was the love of his life, along with being parted from his daughter, the other love of his life. Whether he had substance abuse problems regarding illegal drugs, maybe he did and that was part of it too.

While I hate that he had to die, I'm glad that it wasn't because of cocaine, heroin, etc. Maybe more people will question their Dr's about their meds.

[nccanes]

Since the one time I buy People mag is when I fly, I had the most recent one in N'ville.

The article suggests that Heath had a side of him that dabbled in drug use. Suggested that was the main reason his marriage fell apart. Sounded like he had recent issues with trouble sleeping (they quoted a co-star in the movie he was filming saying he was often complaining about not being able to sleep after very long days filming).

It does make you wonder if recreational use of serious drugs (let alone a real drug "problem") makes people braver about using prescribed ones (quantity or combining).

Sad.

[SouthernHockeyChick]

That really sounds excessive for somebody having trouble being "the joker". He had to have had some other problems going on!

There's nothing unusual at all in that list of meds. Those are some of the most commonly prescribed drugs out there.

If you are having pain, you'll get one of those two pain meds. If you're having anxiety and sleeping problems, you'll get one of those three benzodiazepines. If you buy an OTC sleeping med, you'll get the other one. He obviously went to a couple different doctors and no one bothered to pay any attention to what meds he already had.

IMO, many physicians do not do enough to stress to their patients how important it is for them to know exactly what meds they are already taking before they prescribe something else. Many have you fill out a form with the list when you come in and they never even look at it. Never assume your doctors knows what all you take. ALWAYS ask if you should take anything newly prescribed with what you already take. And it helps to always go to the same pharmacy so another set of trained eyes is hopefully at least looking at your meds.